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Are the bootcamps worth the collosal price?
Like with most things, some are, some aren't!
The important thing is to really research and ask the right questions of the companies you consider. Can you find verifiable reviews of their services? Is there in-field footage of instructors that is legitimate? Do the instructors seem like the kind of guys you'd enjoy hanging out with, and does their style work with the kind of personality you have or would like to have? How long have they been teaching? Do they have a money-back guarantee? What is their refund percentage? Who will actually be teaching on the bootcamp - the actual instructors, or just approach coaches with much less experience and knowledge? How many other students will be there? How much is sitting around learning theory, and how much is actually in-field? Etc.
From there, you can start to put together a price comparison for the bootcamps and companies that you think fit the bill for what you're looking for. In general, as with all comparison shopping - you'll find that with the cut price stuff, you're going to get what you pay for. Guy offering coaching for $15 a hour, or a $199 bootcamp is probably going to be one of two things - probably a bunch of novices who don't know what they're doing, or sometimes an extended sales pitch with tiny bits of content from someone more experienced.
On the flip side, there's a "luxury tax" for some of the bigger names, where they can afford to bump their prices up because they're well known and have good marketing, even though the value of the service isn't any better. Just think of how much more Hugo Boss can charge for a simple plain white t-shirt than H&M. Yeah, some of that is in the quality of the stitching and fabric, but 80% of that price difference is down to the "Boss" label and nothing more. And, whereas the fact that you're just wearing a designer label means a lot to some people, the fact that you went on a bootcamp with a well-known company isn't going to mean a girl is going to open any easier for you!
Once you find a few alternatives, then it's time to get in touch and speak to them. Good signs are if they sit down and listen to you, find out your sticking points, find out about you and how they could actually help you improve, and recommend a programme, even if it isn't their most expensive, that would suit you the best.
Bad signs are if a sales-ey guy calls, refuses to allow you to set up a time to speak with the actual instructor(s), pushes you to sign up RIGHT AWAY to the most expensive programme before it's TOO LATE, takes your basic details but doesn't actually mind what your particular sticking points or concerns are, tries NLP / conversational hypnosis / embedded commands / hypnotic suggestion, or generally treats you like another customer with money rather than a client with issues they want to help solve.
Once you've found the right programme for a fair price, then it's just about seeing it as an investment. Before I took a bootcamp, I'd spent $20-40 every time I went out, going out 2-4 nights a week, for 2 years - that's about $10,000, and it hadn't gotten me very far. I'd read plenty of material, but what I really needed was someone with a lot of experience who would push me into sets, give me instant feedback, and just give me the belief that if I just did what he said, the stuff would just click and it would start working. When you've actually paid something significant, you do push yourself more and want to get the most out of your money - and the more effort you put in, the more you'll get out.